Shantae x Bolo P 1 of 2
by TheGracefulGodot
Summary: Shantae and Bolo have been fellow Relic Hunters for a long time. They don't mind running errands for Mimic since it's convenient for him anyways. One day, they discover a silver bracelet buried deep within Tan Line Isle's catacombs. Little do they know that the bracelet has a symbolic meaning, and after reading through Uncle Mimic's papers, Bolo makes an interesting discovery...


"Phew...sure is hot out here." With hammer and nail in hand, I proceeded to place the shingles back on Mimic's rooftop. There was a violent storm that struck Scuttletown yesterday, so bad that half of the properties in the village were destroyed in the process. He predicted that it would rain all week but with lighter showers after the big storm hits, but man what a false call to make. The very next day, the sun's rays have never been more intense! Might as well add the humidity levels in there while we're at it right?

My name is Bolo. I became a protector of Scuttletown some odd years back, but who am I kidding? The one who really does the protecting around here is Shantae. For awhile now, we've been hanging out more than we ever have since she kept Risky Boots "at bay". Sorry, I make terrible jokes. Anyway, these hangouts have only been accessible because we've been busting our butts for Mimic as much as we can. Lately he's been on a relic-hunting spree, but since he has to take care of the labs at home, he's been sending us to do the dirty work for him. I can't even tell you how many monsters we've taken down to get the stuff he wants to research. Last week, he wanted us to head to Tan Line Isle to get some golden cross from the catacombs of the desert.

However, we came across something else. There was a golden box we found in tomb of a king and his queen. When we opened it, there was a silver bracelet with glyph patterns along the rims of the inside. At the time, neither of us could decipher what it was saying, nor could we understand the hieroglyphs that were presented on the outside of the bracelet, so I placed it in Shantae's lamp and called it a day. Mimic told us it would take some time for him to figure out what it was, but in the meantime we could actually relax and take a couple days off. So much for that lie though...

"Can't believe the joke actually made me work on my day off," I muttered to myself, "I swear sometimes he should get on the roof and get the work done himself! I mean who does he think I am, his errand boy?!"

"Well technically, yeah you are Bolo." I knew that voice. I could recognize it by the soft tunes it produced whenever she opened her mouth. As soon as I spared a glance, there she was, my best friend and relic-hunting comrade, Shantae. She was wearing her traditional belly-dancing outfit: a red bra in which two straps were linked together by a golden ring in the center. She also had her pair of veil-styled red pants which were see-through, revealing her legs with a pair of black underwear to hold them up. Completing her tantalizing outfit were her red pointed shoes she wore to dance. We've been best friends for a very long time, I can't recall the time she moved in with us until she got a place of her own at the lighthouse. When she wanted to join us on the hunts, I took time out of my days to train her for combat. She may have been a half-genie and could utilize her magic, but she wanted to rely mainly on herself and not her birthright powers. Ugh the things we went through in order to get her stances right. Luckily she formed her own styles of fighting with her dancing maneuvers, otherwise she would still be a novice today!

"Ah, Shantae," I spoke, "I figured I was alone when I was saying this stuff." She giggled.

"Sorry Bolo but I heard you through the rooftop of Mimic's Workshop," she replied, "In fact, we could all hear you from in there! I didn't realize you felt this wa-"

"WHOA WHAT?!" I exclaimed in fear, "D-Don't tell me Uncle Mimic was in there too!" The girl...she was just laughing all the sudden. In fact so hard that she fell over giggling immensely.

"I-I was kidding!" she replied, "Gosh Bolo, you couldn't tell I was fibbing the way I said it?" I sighed and continued hammering the rooftop as hard as I could. "Bolo...?" I could feel her presence behind me, so strong that I couldn't help but blush. As mad as I was, I couldn't hold that feeling back. "H-Hey...I'm sorry. It was only a joke. I forgot how close you were to Uncle Mimic." Ugh...women.

"It's alright," I affirmed, "You're mean sometimes you know that?"

"Well then how come you were saying all that stuff about him?" she asked, "It's not like you to do that you know? You always normally keep to yourself, at least until you go on another hunt." I'll be honest, lately Mimic has been getting on my nerves. He's been really harsh to me about how I laze about and waste my time talking to women when I could be making history. But as passionate as I am about relic-hunting, I want to settle down with someone I really care about too so I can share those "Ah ha!" moments when we reveal something from the ground together. I mean, it's my life right?

"It's a little hard to explain," I answered, "Anyway forget about that mess, what are you doing tonight?" She was lost in thought for a slight moment, pondering about my question it seemed. Gosh...she really...no, I can't say it.

"Well~, I was going to walk into the market and see what they have on sale, but I guess you could do it during the day too huh?" She sighed. "I guess I really don't have anything. What do you suggest?" After nailing the last shingle, I slid down the ladder and awaited the half-genie.

"I'll be honest: I've got nothing going on. We could hang out at your place? There's some cool stuff I found when we went to Tan Line Isle, I haven't shown them to Uncle Mimic yet and I figured we could do some research together. How's that sound?"

"Hey that's actually not a bad idea!" she exclaimed in happiness, "Besides, how can we learn this stuff on our own if we always rely on him?" She lept off the roof, freakin' coolness this chick. "I'll sneak in and grab some of his stuff so we can do this tonight. This is gonna be fun! We can relax to music, watch some films, it'll be like the old days when we were younger! Eeeeep I'm really hyped for this now!"

"Jeeze just chill," I told her, "We're only hanging out. What are you so excited for?" She was hesitating to come up with an answer, in fact, when she was nervous, she would always grab her other arm from behind her back when she couldn't think of anything to say.

"U-Um...nothing, it's nothing." Strange. "Anyway, I'll see you later tonight Bolo! I've gotta get some stuff from the market before we start our own research!" The half-genie took off into Scuttletown and left me in the dust. I don't think I've ever seen a person so excited for something so small as research. I wonder what got her ret-2-go on that one...

After packing up my stuff and placing it in the shop, I took a small look at the glitter that shined on his desk. Out of curiosity, I took a gander at the paperwork he produced while researching the recent items we found. There were some steel spoons here and there, and bowls made of desert slug carcasses that were nearly hunted to extinction. In a way, this was actually a fossil, a blueprint of the past that could revive these things you know? I wonder if Uncle Mimic would consider such a thing, seeing that he's used that stupid Revitalgenerator thingiemajig to bring back other things that has caused trouble for Scuttletown. Better yet, I wondered if he was really a crazy evil scientist rather than a relic hunter. Ah well, I didn't really care about that stuff. What I was interested in the most was the glittering object that I first pointed out earlier. Jeeze, my attention span really sucks doesn't it? Maybe that's why I accidentally locked everyone up in the palace one time. Don't even get me started on that story. Anyway, the object appeared to be that silver bracelet Shantae and I found at the catacombs of the desert.

"Huh...," I spoke, "Odd, looks like Mimic did some research on his own. He actually got the results back for this thing." I took a look at the papers that were sitting here next to the bracelet. There were all kinds of things encoded in there. It told a story of a king who gave this bracelet to a woman who was actually one of his slaves. It was already getting dark, but I couldn't keep my eyes off the paper. The story was literally that interesting! I continued reading through the research Uncle Mimic gathered from the bracelet, that was, until I read one specific paragraph that made my heart skip a beat. "Wh-What the...?!" My eyes continued to scroll through the very words I had been reading, words that were horrifying yet very sensitive to me. All I could do for that one moment was peer through the window of Uncle Mimic's shop, the only thing in its sight was Shantae's lighthouse. "...What am I gonna do...?"

...

"Oh! Hey Bolo! You made it just in time! I thought you were taking another snooze cruise again!" Greeting me was a more...relaxed Shantae. She wore her white top that still kept her body nearly exposed, and with that were a pair of shorts.

"You um...," I stuttered, "Y-You definitely don't look like you're ready for research. Rather, you look like you're ready for bed." The girl laughed.

"Well dancing like a desert princess doesn't just make these pajamas appear on me you know!" she exclaimed, "Now get your relic-hunting butt inside. It's gonna get cold soon!" Did she just...really? We're at a beach, it's Summer. Oh well, hopeless me walked inside her humble abode to be greeted by...a clean place? There was a hammock on the left side of her room, a nice slim futon covering the netting with a purple blanket and pillow. Her night stand sat next to it, but of course, these weren't the things that actually caught my attention. There was a nice zebra-printed rug sitting in the middle of the room with all kinds of tools sprawled out. Around that was a clean stone floor with other cabinets and pieces covered with different veil textures. Next to that was a chiffarobe filled with many different outfits Shantae would wear when she was dancing.

"Wow," I spoke, "I can't remember the last time this place was so tidy." She sighed with relief.

"Trust me," she replied, "It was dirty way before you got here. I spent the last bit of my time cleaning up this place after I stopped by Mimic's. It was a disaster!"

"I don't normally stop by your place unless it's really important," I reminded her, "But even then I thought a storm blew through here. It looks a lot better!"

"Thanks!" The careless girl danced to the center of the rug while she was humming. I kept thinking back to those papers I read about the bracelet, and then continued to gaze at her beautiful body. I couldn't help it, she was the most attractive woman on this island. I mean, all of them were really hot and gorgeous, but none could compare to the wonderful Shantae of Scuttletown. She was definitely more curvy than others, more-so in her...what she calls "pajamas". "OK, I got everything we need here! Now, what's your share?" I shook my head as the girl dropped to her knees staring up at me with that cute smile.

"Sorry, I was a little distracted," I said, "Here, I got all this from Tan Line Isle." I pulled the bag off my back and emptied its contents onto the rug. There were a couple of fossils and pottery items present, although I was gonna pay if even a speck of dirt got on her super-clean rug. Not that she cared anyway huh?

We spent a lot of time in silence, pulling away some of the objects that were sitting in the bag and checking them out with our magnifying glasses. I took a look at the notes I was taking after making some discoveries. Some of the stuff didn't make sense. There was one object that was from the island we got this from, but then there was another that was from a place that was uncharted on the map we used. How this even got here was a total mystery. Perhaps there was a connection between them? Shantae wasn't having much luck with her research either. She tried to decipher a few words of a different language, but the translations were making absolutely zero sense at all. "ME KATE BOWL GAP LOVE." I mean what the heck does that even mean?!

"Ugh..." I sighed and fell back onto the rug. "This isn't as fun as I thought it'd be."

"I know what you mean," Shantae replied, "I kinda wished we had some help from Mimic don'tcha think?" I placed my arms behind my head and closed my eyes.

"Yeah but we aren't gonna be true relic hunters if we can't even translate any of this crap," I replied, "We can't always rely on Mimic anyway. How old's the dude now? 80?"

"He said he was 35," Shantae answered, "But others say he's at least 450. Do you even know a person who has lived that long?"

"Not in this day and age," I muttered, "He'd be older than a goat, or even that ancient mad woman we came across on our travels." She giggled at my words and continued looking through the pottery.

"I swear if this was as easy as belly-dancing," she said, "Then I'd be all over this no problem." This caught my attention, I forget sometimes that she is a dancer and not really a hunter.

"Hey Shantae," I spoke after a little while, "Remind me, how did you get so good at dancing?" I rose my head up to see the girl place the magnifying glass onto the ground. She was lost in thought once again.

"It's just something that's in my blood I guess," she answered, "Mum used to do it all the time before she was...gone. I learned a lot of the stuff I do today from her. She's really good at getting people to look at her legs." I smirked a little.

"Psh...too bad I have terrible rhythm," I laughed, "I couldn't dance if my life depended on it. I could make more monnies than anybody on this island if I had the skills, hell, maybe even you." It was right here that everything I pictured in mind started to become a reality, something I would never forget for the rest of my days.

"Well Bolo," she said, "I don't...well, I guess this means you don't have a tutor right?" My ears perked up at such a question. Was she...suggesting something?

"What are you getting at?" I asked, "If you think dancing is for me, then you're out of your mind. Besides, belly-dancing is for girls. I couldn't get into that stuff anyway even if I wanted to." Was she...blushing?

"You never really know unless you try Bolo," she shyly spoke, "You don't have to belly-dance like me, I had to start with the basics of dancing anyway before I tried to do the ones Mum used to do." She got up from the rug and walked over to me, reaching for my hand. "I could teach you how to dance in duet form. You know what that is right?" I was suffering from lockjaw at that moment. Seriously? Was she really asking to teach me how to dance?

"I-I don't know," I stuttered, "M-Maybe we should get back to work on these before Mimic finds ou-"

"Just...just take my hand Bolo. We can do this stuff later. I want to show you how to dance..." I don't think I've ever seen Shantae be so direct about something like this. I mean, she was when it came to bad guy things and fighting evil or whatnot, but...to see her in a calm, blushing, happy state when she is like that? It somehow made me feel warm inside.

"O-Ok..." I gently placed my hand in hers as she pulled me up to my feet, nearly close to her cute face in the process of trying to stand still. Her innocent blue eyes were staring into mine, and before I knew it, she was blushing as hard as she ever had.

"N-Now then," she said, "You need to have a feel of your partner and what they might do, so here, take your gloves off and we'll proceed to the next step." Oh boy. I've always kept these on to protect my hands from harm, but I feel that if I take her hand in my palms, I'm gonna melt! Slowly, I undid the straps and placed them on the ground. After I finished, the shy girl placed her hand in mine and gave directions. "Ok, you're not tense right?" I nodded even though I was lying. "Good, now then...take your hand and place it here..." Slowly, she clasped the outside of my hand and moved it towards her side. My heart was racing erratically that moment; her skin felt so soft and silky, smooth as a fluffy pillow. "And keep your other hand in mine like this." She closed her palm in my other hand gently, naturally reacting the same way as I looked at her. "Alright, dancing is all about movement and tempo, but we won't get to the tempo part just yet. All you have to do is pay attention to my feet and watch how they move. Whenever I move like this-". She demonstrates. "You do the same with your other foot that is parallel to the one that just moved. Then just mimic my movements from there on out. Do you think you can handle that?" I could feel myself getting ready to gulp at her words.

"Y-Yeah," I answered, "I can do it."

"Good. Now...follow my lead, and please try not to step on my feet." She was giggling at her own words as we moved as slowly as we could. I can't believe this is actually happening. I had many, and I mean MANY, failed attempts with women, but this was as close as I ever got to one, and not just any, but this was Shantae we're talking about! This was a dream come...wait. What am I saying? This girl is like my little sister. Why am I thinking about things like this with Shantae of all people?! But I don't seem to understand. This is supposed to be wrong on so many levels, but for some reason, that's not exactly what I'm feeling. "Hey you're getting the hang of this Bolo! You're not doing so bad for your first dancing lessons."

"There will be more...?"

"Y-Yeah, I mean, if you really can't dance then I'll just give up. Either that or I'll put a spell on you or something." She giggled again at her words, but little did she know that there was one placed on me already. I couldn't stop looking at her, everything around me was blackened. The only thing that made sense in this darkness was...just Shantae.

"This is...actually really nice," I told her, "I guess this wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be." She smirked at my words.

"You should count yourself lucky on this one Bolo," she said, "I was thinking about opening my own school for dancing, and trust me, I'd have people pay a hefty price to learn from me. You're getting the first bits for free mind you." I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh come on," I said, "You know you would've given me free lessons anyway. I'm Bolo!" She smiled at my bold statement.

"Maybe you're right. I probably would've given you all my lessons for free." I was having a good time doing this with her, so much that I gently pulled her closer to me. "B-Bolo...?" My arm wrapped around her waist slowly as we were nearly touching noses, completely aware at that moment of what I had just done. Oh well, I guess there was no point in backing out now was there? Besides, after her sudden shock, she didn't seem to really care. We were nearly embracing each other, no regrets...

"...You know," I suddenly spoke after a long while of silence, our eyes closed, "I actually had a dream about this once." I could feel her hands clamming up in mine as I spoke those words.

"Really...?"

"Yeah." Our dance was still continuing in a slower pace. "We were in front of the crowds of people like you were a while ago, dancing like this while people were cheering and throwing money to us. Kinda strange huh?" She smiled a little at the thought.

"It is a teeny weeny bit," she answered, "But I think we would've been great dancers honestly." More silence greeting us, I wondered what she was thinking. Soon, I'd get an answer. "Hey Bolo...can I ask you something?" We stopped for a moment, still very close to each other.

"Um...sure." She faced my shoulder, her eyes halfway closed and frowning, yet she was blushing?

"You don't...have other dreams about me do you?" My face instantly turned red. I honestly never had dreams of Shantae other than the dancing one, but if I ever did, I think maybe it would be of something a little more on the intimate level.

"Y-You can't possibly mean something like-" Thank goodness I didn't finish that sentence.

"N-NO! NOT DREAMS LIKE THAT YOU BIG DUMMY!" she exclaimed, "I-I'm talking about...I'm...I'm talking about..." She couldn't even finish her statement, and honestly, I'm not sure how it would've ended so I'm glad she didn't. "I can't...I can't say it. Just forget about it." She closed her eyes in disappointment as we continued to dance. Now I was curious, what in the world was she thinking? It couldn't have been a coincidence right? Was she thinking the same thing I was? I mean, despite the awkwardness that was presented before us, she still stayed very close to my body, so...was she really thinking about it? I just...I couldn't stop thinking about it, so much that I did something I thought I'd never do.

"Shantae..." She turned her eyes to face mine, the woman still blushing as hard as she ever had after our talk about dreams.

"Yes?" I didn't even hesitate. While I still had her in my arms, I moved as close as I could go, nearly connecting our lips as she suddenly realized what was about to happen. "B-Bolo!?" Instantly, we had synced them together, closing my eyes slowly as the girl tried to remove herself from me. I held onto her as much as I could, not wanting to let her go. When she realized she couldn't fight me back, she gave in and closed her eyes too, kissing me back as passionately as I did when I first laid lips on hers. Her grip was tighter, pressing her chest against mine as hard as possible while we were dancing slowly and embracing one another. I didn't mind this, I wanted to be here forever, not wanting anything more. She pulled her arms away at that moment and placed her hands on my cheeks, my arms resting on her soft hips as we continued to kiss deeply and passionately. Sadly, this was going to come to an end, a very bad end. "B-Bolo, Bolo wait! Wait a minute!" She quickly pulled away, breathing loudly and closing her eyes in shame. I knew it, I screwed up big time.

"Sh-Shante," I said, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know what came over me! I didn't mean t-to hurt you." She still kept her posture.

"...No Bolo," she replied, "It's...it's my fault. I shouldn't have asked you to dance with me. If anything I should apologize to you." My heart was sinking in a slow and unforgettable pain.

"Well then why did you-"

"Bolo..." She slowly turned to face her bed. "I...I think you should go." A million things were racing in my mind that moment. I can't believe I actually did that to her. I felt...like a monster.

"Shantae, I..." I didn't even have the words to speak to her. Can you blame me? What else could've been said?

"I'm sorry Bolo..." She knelt down and placed most of the stuff I brought over in the bag. Though I was lost in thought, I quickly jumped down and helped her out. On the last piece were our hands placed over one another, but that was quickly short-lived as she pulled away. "Please go..." I didn't even know what to say. As I placed my gloves back on, I slowly strutted to the door and turned the knob. I couldn't help it, I had to say something.

"...For what it's worth Shantae," I muttered in a sad tone, "I'm really sorry..." After this, I opened the door and left the lighthouse a broken man. What have I done...?


End file.
